LANSING, MI -- Gov. Rick Snyder on Wednesday signed a bill that would freeze the Michigan Department of Natural Resources' ability to issue permits for the sterilization of game animals until 2022.

House Bill 5321 freezes the ability of the Department of Natural Resources to issue sterilization permits like the one Ann Arbor is operating under. It does not allow the DNR to issue sterilization permits again until 2022, but allows Ann Arbor to continue with its current permit, said sponsor Rep. Triston Cole, R-Macelona, when the House gave final approval to the bill last week.

In the meantime, the DNR will study the results of deer sterilization efforts.

Ann Arbor’s current permit allows sterilizing up to 80 deer and, after the last round of sterilizations in November, the city is now up to 78 female deer that have had their ovaries surgically removed over the last two years, so it could only do two more under the current permit.

Cole said last week he had worked with the Snyder administration on the legislation.